90% of women wear the wrong bra size, so if you're reading this, you're probably in that 90%. There are many reasons for this, and the first part of this MyTake will delve into two of these reasons. The second part will be a series of bulletpoints busting misconceptions about bra sizing and bra fitting. I hope you find this useful!
WHY 90% OF WOMEN WEAR THE WRONG SIZE
REASON 1: Stores fitting people incorrectly
The majority of stores (from chain stores like VS to independent boutiques) fit people wrong. The reason for this is sort of a mix between them wanting to make as many sales as possible, and on a broader scale, the industry wanting to produce as few sizes as possible, to make more money. They've gotten away with squeezing the majority of women into the 32-38 A-DD range for decades, why would they stop? They're not going to stop unless we do something about it and the answer is: education. In reality, this 32-38 A-DD range actually fails to serve a LOT of people. But the problem is, we don't know our sizes. We think we fit in this range. 32A. 34B. 36C. 32B. 32D. 34C. 34A. 36A. The list goes on. These sizes are some of the most commonly found sizes in stores, yet they are not very common at all when correctly fitted. Meanwhile, some of the MOST COMMON sizes that women end up being when correctly fitted, such as 28E, 28F, 28FF, 28G, 30F, 30FF etc - are very hard to find. And if you're reading this thinking 'what the heck, those are huge sizes on tiny bodies' then you've been fooled by societal misconceptions about bra sizing which brings me to my next point...
REASON 2: Societal Misconceptions about bra sizing
If anime girls spring to mind when you read the sizes I listed above, then you've been fooled by societal misconceptions about bra sizing. These are the second biggest reason for people wearing the wrong size. SO many women with small boobs need C, D, DD, E, F etc cups. But how can they ever know, because society has led us to believe that A = very small, B = small, C = medium, D = big, DD = very big and anything over DD = huge - this couldn't be more wrong. You'll see these misconceptions reflected when you look up celebrity bra sizes. You'll see people like Ariana Grande listed as a 32A when in reality she's probably a 26DD/E. You'll see people like Sydney Sweeney listed as a 34D when in reality she's probably a 28GG/H (28K in US sizing).
TOP MISCONCEPTIONS BUSTED!
* You can have small boobs and be more than a B cup - in fact, it's common. Cup sizes go as far as Z - theoretically. A and B are the two smallest sizes in a huge range. People need these sizes - but they aren't common. Not abnormal. But just not common, in the same way that really big sizes aren't common. If you have small boobs and you wear AA, A or B cups, I highly advise measuring yourself, even if your bra feels okay. Small chested celebrities like Zendaya, Ariana Grande, Natalie Portman, Anya Taylor Joy, Emma Stone, Margot Robbie, are all A/B cups according to Google but in reality, none of these women are less than a C cup.
* Double D's aren't huge, and they are a LOT more common than society would make you think. If you consider yourself to have big boobs and you wear a Double D or triple D bra, I suggest measuring yourself, even if your bra feels okay.
* C isn't synonymous with 'medium', 'average', 'not too big, not too small' or 'a handful'. Correctly fitted C cups are much smaller than you'd think and the TRUE average is probably somewhere between F-FF (G/H in US sizing). If you have what you'd call 'medium sized boobs' and you wear a C cup, EVEN if it feels okay, I advise you to measure yourself.
*Band sizes of 24, 26, 28 etc are not rare and they do not mean you're absolutely tiny, or malnourished (I've had all sorts of things thrown at me on here when I say I'm a 26 band). Most people have a difference of 1-4 inches between their waist and underbust measurements (now that is a generalization so don't take it too seriously, our bodies are all SO different), so if you have a 23/24 waist you're likely to have an underbust that's between 24 and 27 inches. Lots of women need these sizes and the only reason we think they're so 'rare' is because stores don't sell them. We think 32 is the smallest common band size because that's usually the smallest we can get in stores. Also, there's an incorrect measuring method (more on this below) that tells you to add 4 inches to your underbust to get your band size. So most people in 32 bands ACTUALLY need 28 bands or smaller. If we were really as 'tiny' as society wants us to believe, then how would we find clothes to fit? I can buy an XXS or XS top that fits perfectly, I have never ever had problems shopping for clothing, so why can't I get a bra easily in my size?
*Cup sizes are not static. An E cup on a 26 band is very different to an E cup on a 46 band. And no, contrary to what many people think - E cup on a 26 band doesn't look huge, it looks small - look at the chart below, 26E has the same volume as a 34B and a 36A (390cc). Now people will argue 'but there's a 6 inch difference and on SUCH A TINY FRAME, they must be like watermelons!!!' NO - and this brings me on to my next point.........
*Cup sizes indicate the difference in inches between your underbust and bust measurements, so A = 1 inch, B = 2 inches, C = 3 inches and so on. But what people misunderstand about this, is they think it means that if you're a D cup, your breasts 'protrude' 4 inches from your body. No. Underbust and bust measurements are circumference measurements. Cup size is the DIFFERENCE between two circumference measurements. The 4 inches isn't how far out the breasts protrude, it's just how much bigger the breast measurement is than the underbust measurement. That 4 inches is spread across the torso between two boobs. When you take that into account and also the fact that your body is likely to be wider up higher where the bust measurement is taken - the actual 'protrusion' if you will, would be less than 2 inches per boob.
*If your band size feels too tight, it might be too loose. You cannot judge the fit of your bras band while wearing your bra normally because there are too many other factors at play. For example, when cups are too small/shallow this will put a strain on the band and make a band that's way too loose feel super tight. If you want to see how tight your band is, put it on upsidedown with the hooks to the front, like the picture shows below. Doing this will allow you to test the fit of the band, without the cups or straps interfering. If your band feels super tight when you wear your bra and it rides up at the back, but when you try it like this it doesn't feel bad and can stretch out quite far - then your band isn't too tight, it may be too loose, your cups may be too small, or both.
* If you have gaps in your cups, it doesn't mean you need smaller cups. A lot of us see gaps in our cups and we think 'oh I need smaller cups, I'm not filling them' - this is usually not true. When I wore the wrong size (32A) I got huge gaps in my bras, which made me think even A cups were too small for me, but that was not true at all. Now that I wear the right size (26E, 26DDD in US sizing) - I have no gaps at all. Gaps can be caused by a lot of things. They can even be caused by your cups being TOO SMALL! How? When your cups are too small/shallow for your breasts, your breasts will seek out and accommodate the deepest part of the cup (usually somewhere in the middle of the cup). This will cause gaps to appear in other parts of the cups, such as at the top. This is especially common with moulded bras (bras with cups made from single pieces of foam with no seams, think of your classic t-shirt bras). The reason gaps are common with moulded bras is because of their moulded nature - they are already moulded into a VERY specific shape that will only suit a very specific breast shape.
* Breast shape is WAY more than just 'round, teardrop, omega' etc. It is actually hugely complex and multi-faceted and I am not going to explore it in this MyTake because I honestly could write an entire MyTake about this. But just to touch on it briefly, breasts can be very shallow, shallow, average, projected, or very projected. They can be full on the top, even in fullness or full on the bottom. They can be centre-full, even in fullness, or outer full. They can be close set, average set or wide set. They can have tall roots, average roots or short roots. They can have wide roots, average roots, or narrow roots. See what I mean? Just these few things that I have touched on, when you multiply them by each other, that's 405 possibilities. Now multiply that by the amount of bra sizes there are and you'll see why this stuff is so complicated!
*One of the ways in which we get fitted incorrectly, is under the +4 method. The +4 method tells you to add 4/5 inches to your underbust to get your band size (4 inches if even, 5 inches if odd) - this is INCORRECT. Brands will try to tell you that this is just 'their sizing' but I assure you I am YET to this day to find a brand that actually MAKES their bras according to this method. They don't. They just use this method to size people incorrectly - to fit them into a narrow size range - so that they can make more money. Remember the sizes I mentioned above - sizes like, I quote '32A. 34B. 36C. 32B. 32D. 34C. 34A. 36A'. Well, if you go ahead and reverse the +4 method from these sizes, I'll do one as an example now and I'll list the others then. So if someone is put in a 32A under the +4 method, to get their actual size we subtract the 4 inches that were added on, so that means the person has a 28 inch underbust (32 - 4 = 28) so they are a 28 band, and their bust measurement is 33 (because an A cup is one inch and 32+1 is 33) so they should really be a 28DD (28 underbust, 33 bust - 5 inch difference, DD cup). Now, lets do it with the other sizes.
34B = 30E
36C = 32F
32B = 28E
32D = 28FF
34C = 30F
34A = 30DD
36A = 32DD
^ The sizes on the right are the true sizes of people who get sized in the common sizes on the left - yet the sizes on the right (the sizes we need) are super hard to find. This is a big problem, way bigger than many people realize. And it's going to take a long time for any sort of major change to come about but that's why it's so important that we spread the word about proper sizing.
If you've read this and you're thinking 'oh wow, I am definitely wearing the wrong size' then I suggest grabbing a soft measuring tape and checking out a reliable bra size calculator such as abrathatfits or mybrasizecalculator. Many online bra size calculators are not reliable and have incorrect measuring methods like the +4 method mentioned above built in. If a bra size calculator gives you a band size that's 4 inches bigger than your underbust measurement, it's incorrect. If it says 'size doesn't exist' - it's incorrect. If it only takes 2 measurements, it's not accurate enough.
I hope you found this mytake useful and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! This is my passion, I am happy to answer anything and everything!
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